Poland’s power grid is blocking some data-centre growth in Warsaw, but not all of it. Projects that already hold firm connection conditions can proceed. About 160 MW is already connected on the Stoen Operator network in Warsaw, with further agreements above 500 MW and conditions above 300 MW. A medium-voltage connection, the local distribution level that serves most sites inside the city, can take 18 months. Speculative applications without firm conditions remain in the queue.
The draft Plan Rozwoju Sieci Przesyłowej for 2027–2036 is the first official document to put data centres on the map. It shows a potential rise in national data centre capacity from about 200 MW today to roughly 3 GW by 2036 and 5 GW by 2040.
What the National Plan Says About Data-Centre Power
It will cost about 66–68 billion zloty to deliver the plan, which will include roughly 5,000 km of new 400 kV lines, around 30 new substations and the modernisation of more than 100 existing ones, plus a north–south high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link to carry power from the north of the country to the main demand centres. The Polish Data Centre Association has welcomed it as a reference. Piotr Kowalski, its managing director, said the use of industry data in the official plan means moving from declarative thinking about digital transformation to its real inclusion in network planning, and the association noted that the 3 GW figure depends on the pace of the network build.
How Texas and Denmark Are Handling the Same Challenge
Poland is not the only market trying to clear its backlog. Texas and Denmark have already faced data centre demand requests that far exceeded available capacity and have moved from open queues to prioritisation or pauses.
Texas has already faced the same pressure. ERCOT is tracking more than 400 GW of large demand requests, nearly 90% of them from data centres, and the state has approved a batch process for the first of them. The governor later paused new approvals pending an audit.
In Denmark, Energinet paused new large connection agreements earlier this year. Data-centre requests alone had reached about 14 GW against a system peak of roughly 7 GW. From October 12 a new law puts large data centres at the back of the queue unless they are tied to a critical function. Waits of five to ten years are possible.
The People Needed for the Lines and the Data Centres
The grid programme and the data centre builds are drawing on the same limited pool of electrical and commissioning skills. WysokieNapiecie reported in July that the Polish Construction Employers’ Association puts the potential gap in professional energy construction at up to 50,000 people once all the transformation plans are counted. PSE has restarted its own specialist company, PSE Inwestycje, to handle commissioning and maintenance work. Its president said the company is looking for substation and line electricians, commissioning specialists, construction managers and engineers, and that finding them is not easy. It is not recruiting abroad for the critical infrastructure roles.
The same pool is being drawn by renewables, nuclear preparation and data centres. Photovoltaic and wind projects, storage, grid upgrades and data centre builds are all competing for electricians, automation technicians, project managers and commissioning engineers.
The overlap with data centre facilities staff is not affecting every role the companies need to fill. Both sides need SEP-certified electricians, people who can commission a medium-voltage plant, and construction or project managers who understand Polish electrical rules. High-voltage line workers and transmission substation specialists are more specific to the PSE build. Cooling and HVAC technicians are more specific to data centres. The shared middle is the electrical and commissioning group.
That is the hiring pressure on the grid upgrade. It is not the only constraint. Permits, steel and land rights matter too. For the data centre operators the practical effect is that the people who can bring a hall into service are also the people the transmission contractors want.
Which Polish Operators Already Hold Firm Power
Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) has issued connection conditions for about 6 GW of data centre demand. After the April 2026 energy-law amendment took effect, the bulk of the speculative applications disappeared.
Microsoft is operating in the Raszyn–Pruszków belt. DATA4 has a live campus at Jawczyce. Atman, Equinix, EdgeConneX and Vantage are recruiting or building within the Warsaw ring.
Projects with Power Can Grow; the Rest Wait
The operators that already hold connection conditions or agreements in the Warsaw ring can grow now. The projects still in the queue cannot. The grid has to be built for the 3 GW and 5 GW figures to be met and there is no substitute for the lines and substations.
Hiring Facilities Staff for the Data Centre Campuses That Already Have Power
The team at Verita HR can hire the facilities staff for the campuses that already have power, and can show a foreign operator how Polish employment contracts, B2B invoices and SEP certificates work before the first hire. Some of the engineers already work for Verita HR group clients.
Reach out to our team for more help at info@veritahr.com
See Also:
What is an SEP Certificate, and Why Poland’s Data Centres Cannot Hire Without it – Verita HR
